Bourgeois egoism turned destructive in both its mass and economic forms.

Evidence

In the present epoch, egoism has actually become destructivethe fettered and distracted egoism of the masses, as well as the outdated egoistic principle of economy, which is today only showing its most brutal side. When the latter is overcome, the former will be able to become productive in a new sense … The idealistic morality which is preventing this from being seen is not to be rejected, it must be realized historically and must therefore not yet be eliminated either. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 202

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: Horkheimer’s dialectical claim that idealistic morality must be realized rather than eliminated is a genuinely difficult, unresolved theoretical position.
• XREF: connects to: Marx saw both bourgeois and proletarian families as distorted by commodity and exploitation. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 410; Bureaucratic workers’ organizations and monopoly mass culture destroyed working-class spontaneity. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 310; Bourgeois destruction of the nation-state empowered the mob to liquidate the bourgeoisie itself (+3 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Marx saw both bourgeois and proletarian families as distorted by commodity and exploitation. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 410; Bureaucratic workers’ organizations and monopoly mass culture destroyed working-class spontaneity. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 310; Bourgeois destruction of the nation-state empowered the mob to liquidate the bourgeoisie itself (+3 more)